Italy has submitted its 2019 budget, hoping to get past all the red tape in Brussels in order to implement reforms espoused on the campaign trail. Sputnik has spoken with Fabrizio Carmignani, Professor of Economics at Griffith University in Australia to find out if the EU will accept Rome’s plans.

Sputnik: It the EU likely to accept Italy’s budget proposals and if not, what will be the consequences?

Fabrizio Carmignani: It’s difficult to say whether it will be accepted. What we can say is that the proposal is certainly not making the EU very happy. The problem is obviously the level of deficit because if the proposal goes ahead, the deficit will go up to 2.4%, which is an increase compared to the past, and probably above what the EU would like.

The common denominator of the populist coalition is a generally anti-EU position and a conflict with the EU at this point would probably be beneficial for them, but it is certainly not an outcome that I would like to have for the Italian economy.

Sputnik: Do you feel that the EU interferes too much in Italy’s affairs?

Fabrizio Carmignani: If you are talking about economic affairs, then I don’t agree with the statement. The EU is an economic union and while there is a single currency, there is very clear integration from a monetary point of view, there is integration in terms of other aspects of the economy.

They are part of a union; therefore they have to accept a number of the rules as a member of the region. I don’t think there is excessive interference, in the end; the EU is working towards ideal economic outcomes for the entire region and often we forget to mention the positive impact that the economic integration has had on many countries, including Italy.

I don’t see this as interference; I see it as support, as part of the process of integration which in the long term has benefits for all member countries.

The views expressed in this article are those of the speaker, and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.

Hello,
!

We are committed to protecting your personal information and we have updated our Privacy Policy to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a new EU regulation that went into effect on May 25, 2018.

Please review our Privacy Policy. It contains details about the types of data we collect, how we use it, and your data protection rights.

Since you already shared your personal data with us when you created your personal account, to continue using it, please check the box below:

I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of creating a personal account on this site, in compliance with the Privacy Policy.

If you do not want us to continue processing your data, please click here to delete your account.

promotes the use of narcotic / psychotropic substances, provides information on their production and use;

contains links to viruses and malicious software;

is part of an organized action involving large volumes of comments with identical or similar content ("flash mob");

“floods” the discussion thread with a large number of incoherent or irrelevant messages;

violates etiquette, exhibiting any form of aggressive, humiliating or abusive behavior ("trolling");

doesn’t follow standard rules of the English language, for example, is typed fully or mostly in capital letters or isn’t broken down into sentences.

The administration has the right to block a user’s access to the page or delete a user’s account without notice if the user is in violation of these rules or if behavior indicating said violation is detected.